Mustafa Yilham (Bixin) on the industrial Bitcoin miner perspective (EP.155)

Mustafa Yilham, VP of global business development at Bixin, joins the show. Bixin is an early Asia-based Bitcoin miner; they operate a popular wallet app, and they run a Bitcoin-denominated quant fund of funds. We cover prevailing myths around industrial Bitcoin mining and the reality of sourcing energy at competitive prices for mining. In this episode:

• The story behind Bixin's Bitcoin-denominated quant fund
• How Bixin's fund of fund employs a Bitcoin benchmark
• Why Bixin as a firm is not market neutral and does not hedge their mining operation
• Whether miners have a procyclical or countercyclical effect on the price of Bitcoin
• Whether or not miners are fundamentally long Bitcoin
• The key considerations for finding a good source of electricity for mining
• Why Central Asia, Russia, and North America are promising locations for mining
• Why Mustafa expects more hashpower to end up in North America in the near term
• The factors leading Mustafa to expect less hashrate concentration in China in the future
• Whether the CBECI mining map is a reliable guide to where mining is located
• Miner attitudes to Iran and OFAC
• Current electricity prices required to competitively mine
• What sold out hardware means for the price of Bitcoin
• Was the hashrate drop earlier this year was due to the seasonal migration of hashpower in China?
• Bixin's approach to seasonal electricity costs
• Whether the withdrawal issues at Okex and Huobi prevented miners from selling and 'caused' the recent Bitcoin rally
• Mustafa's take on the "China controls Bitcoin" narrative
• Why Bitcoin mining is getting progressively more decentralized
• Why Bitcoin miners are positively disposed towards Bitcoin
• Whether Bixin plans to support Taproot
• Mustafa's view on who controls Bitcoin
• Mustafa's experiences in Turkey and why it is so popular there
• Why central asian and post-Soviet households like gold

Sponsor notes:

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